Personal Writing: Living In Both Texas and New York CityWhere a person was born or raised often plays an important role in theirlives. There are often comparisons between a urban civilization to ruralcivilization. Humans adopt to different environments that would be the mostsuitable for their style of living.
Society as a whole didn’t tell us wherecivilization should take place. Choosing the right place for a living dependson the matters of self preference and comfort. Throughout the last decade, Iwas brought up in two different cities that are thousands of miles apart NewYork City and Houston. The two cities are ranked among the top ten in state /city population, yet there are structures and mainframes which we can soonidentify or relate with. Although it’s located in different regions, it wasbeneficial to experience and to taste the variety in culture, way of life, andthe school system.
I was raised in the central Manhattan of the Big Apple, the city thatnever sleeps. Mass transit and people had always flooded the streets andintersections. It seemed like everyone were heading for different directionsand the citizens of New York City are too busy with their own affairs and doeshave time to care of what’s going on in their surroundings. The citizens of NewYork City would care less about the traffic safety and reading the traffic signs.
The smell of the city reminds me of the honey roasted peanut stands, a sweetscent of aroma that would often fill up the neighborhood. When I close my eyesand think deeply about NYC, there has been a chime in my head of the messengersblowing their whistles to fight in the traffic while slicing left and right toget to their destination. New York City taxi drivers are the “killers” of therush hour. Taxi drivers within the city are not afraid to use their horn.
Imust give a great deal of respect to the New York City taxi drivers because theyare hard working citizens whom knows what they’re doing on the road and they arealways providing the fasted delivery from one place to another. Above all, Iattended private schools in near the Greenwich Village area of New York City.
It’s a small area called SOHO, similar to the street of New Orleans. I attendedtwo different catholic schools within five years span. Because most publicschools in NYC lacked the reputation in academic wise, my parents had to provide$800 per month tuition for both my little brother and I. Even though religiousprivate-schools have the reputation of developing good students and teaching themorals, the academic system had often been short behind compare to the publicschools. People who transfer to private schools often claimed that they had thetext done the material that’s been provided a year before.
During the courses of my 7th grade in grammar school. I was informedthat we would move to Texas. For some bizarre reason, the people up north havealways pictured the cowboys and horses in Texas. I was really upset for leavingmy friends and all the fond memories behind. I am a person who is willing toaccept the alternatives and to learn different cultures in life. I think lifeis too short and everyone should take a bite out of everything.
I moved toSugar Land Texas, in the year of 1991. The reason for the drastic alternativewas because of my grandfather, who was a senior citizen living by himself inTaiwan. He visited Houston once or twice and strongly favored the climate here. Above all, it’s a quiet neighborhood, perfect for retirement plans and elderly.
The neighborhood was a nice place but it lacked the public transportation that Iwas used to back in the cities. Down here, almost everyone travel from point ato point B with an automobile. I was under the age of having a license so Ioften biked my way around the neighborhood within the five mile radius. I beganmy first year and attended 8th grade at First Colony Middle School. I can sayit was the worst year of my life.
I guess I felt homesick and didn’t want toaccept the dramatic change in my life. I was a city person, all of sudden I amstuck with riding bicycle to school.It took me about a year to adopt theenvironment. My parents had always stood besides me to walk me along. Notuntil my freshmen year in high school did I start making friends and gettinginto the social crowd.
The similarity between these two cities are the population density. NewYork had always been on the top of the charts on people and immigrants. On theother hand, Houston had been growing by large sum of in population during thepast few years. Both cities are populated and the high in crime rate.
As amatter of fact, I took a trip back to NYC on my spring break and I was amazed bythe changes of a new major. The streets had been cleaned and there are lesshomeless people in the streets. Even though Sugar Land is not considered to bea city yet, the population had been growing dramatically. Skyscrapers stood tallin both cities and the office buildings can been seen from miles away as asymbol of free enterprise and open opportunities.
On the other hand, both New York City and Houston have its uniqueness intheircharacteristics. The people New York City are well diverse, unlike thetradition of the southerner part of the states. People of the south refer tothe northerner to be “Yankees”. I can’t agree with the fact that the south isculturally diverse too. I can relate to that because there are more Asianslocated on the east and west coast of the states. The feeling of “being withyour own kind” had came across my mind for the first time when I moved to thesouth.
Up in the northern part of the region, people did not care much aboutwhat racial group you’re attached with. But down here, it seem like a defensemechanism. Transportation was another factor. Subways, taxi, and mass transitcity buses are everywhere in the city. Even though it was at a higher expense,people of the city have less time to worry about how to get from one point toanother. In Sugar Land, a person without an automobile is just as bad as ahandicap on a wheelchair.
Although I lived in New York City for several years, I had to considermyself as a Texan because I practically grew up here. From getting my licenseto getting my first accident, I was raised from adolescent to adulthood in thesouth. Even though there are many conveniences of living in the city, there aremany complications and crimes within. I was happy that I grew up here because Iwas raised in a calm neighborhood, away from all the deception and chaos. If Ihad would recommend to any people out there where to reside, I wouldn’t hesitateto recommend Texas, the Lone Star State.
